If you have a particularly valuable client who provides you with a regular supply of work, you need to do everything you can to keep that client happy by being flexible.

I work with a major UK publisher of consumer guidance and I proofread a range of their material prior to publication. Sometimes I am asked to turn them around on the same day due to a particularly tight deadline which means I have to work some anti-social hours. On other occasions I get 2 or 3 days to work on what they send me.

One thing they do suffer from is “shifting schedules”, when publication deadlines are moved back at the last minute because something significant needs to be done to the draft publication, e.g. copy re-writing. As a proofreader, I have to fit in with these “shifting schedules” and be flexible and be ready to react to a tight deadline.

My client really appreciates my flexibility and I have noticed an increase in the amount of work they are giving me.

Be professional

How do we communicate in business in the modern era? Gone are the days of quill pens and ink. Some would say also that gone are the days of writing a letter.

Technology now rules our lives and the way we communicate, especially in business, has changed for ever. Email and social media messaging have now become the leading methods of communication between businesses.

Millions of people use social media like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogging and many more methods to get their messages across, however, there are times when we do need to use a more traditional form of communication, like a letter or an email, but do we know how to write one in a professional and business-like way?

Being professional is still paramount when it comes to communicating to others what we want them to know about our businesses. You’ve probably spent ages working your socks off to build up your professional reputation. Why spoil it and give it all away by being unprofessional or making careless mistakes.

Many years ago, in a previous employment, I actually went on a course to learn, amongst other things, how to write a business letter – that shows how long ago it was – and I can still remember some of the things I learned and I continue to use those principles today, although more in emails than letters. For example, I was taught never to begin a sentence with the word ‘however’. Nowadays it doesn’t seem to make any difference but I still uphold my own standards.

I sometimes wonder whether staff nowadays are ‘taught’ or ‘trained’ how to write a professional or business-like email. I see many emails where the language used is either wholly inappropriate or is full of basic grammatical and spelling errors. It worries me that business owners and managers may not be aware of the quality of some of the emails that are emanating from their offices and what they are allowing their staff to send out on behalf of their businesses.

As a proofreader, I believe that any form of written material produced by a business is either promoting the business or reflecting back on the quality of the business. It is vitally important, therefore, that this shop window is showing off your business in the best possible light.

So, over the coming weeks, I am going to be looking at the way we write in business and share with you some of my thoughts on how you can become a better business writer. There are many differing opinions on how we should and should not write from a business point of view. These thoughts are mine and are based on 35+ years of experience of business writing and on how I would prefer to receive written material from businesses.

Whilst you are here, take a look at the rest of my website to learn more about what I can do to help you.

Look out for Part 2 of this ‘Better Business Writing ‘series entitled “Get your email noticed”

A simple tip….

I’m sure you will have heard of Pareto’s Principle or the 80/20 Rule. Well, it applies to the way we all use our time whilst running our businesses.

Are you spending 80% of your time doing things you shouldn’t or needn’t be doing in your business and only 20% of your time doing things that are worthwhile and more cost effective?

In truth, I expect most of you will be answering ‘Yes’ to that question.

Let’s think about this…….

How much time do you spend reading and then re-reading your work before sending it out to a client, for example? You probably don’t realise you’re doing it because you’ve always done it like that. Try and put a value to that time. Take your hourly or daily rate and multiply it by the number of hours you spend reading and re-reading your work. How much does it come to? It’s a lot, isn’t it?

So, how can you save that time and money and use those hours more cost effectively? In other words, move the equation more towards the 80/20 that you aspire to.

Well, one solution is to ‘outsource’ the reading and re-reading task to someone else; someone who is trained to spot errors and to advise on things like consistency and layout – a proofreader.

You may be thinking that proofreaders only work with book publishers. Well, I don’t! Whilst I am proofreading your work, you can be getting on with something else; something much more worthwhile.

Any written material produced by a business will be either directly promoting that business or reflecting back on the quality of that business. So, yes, it’s vital you get it right otherwise people won’t be doing business with you.

I hope this article has given you some food for thought…..if it has, then contact me